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MsHoffman · Joined: 18 Sep 2016 Posts: 76

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MsHoffman · Joined: 18 Sep 2016 Posts: 76

Okay I may have posted this too quickly, after I sent them a polite email saying that I'm not interested in a two-city position, they said they had a one-city position available. So there you go.

rogerwilco · Joined: 10 Jun 2010 Posts: 1549

The bear · Joined: 16 Aug 2015 Posts: 483

rioux · Joined: 26 Apr 2012 Posts: 880

MsHoffman · Joined: 18 Sep 2016 Posts: 76

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The bear · Joined: 16 Aug 2015 Posts: 483

HeidiHector · Joined: 10 May 2017 Posts: 36 Location: China

Couldn't agree more. Was living in Boston for a few years and worked for Boston University, Harvard, and UMass Boston.

Harvard was by far the most dysfunctional place I had ever (and have since) worked. The director was simply insane and abusive both to the teachers AND the students. I think she was just insecure because they were considering closing the program (which the admin eventually did). The students were also all divas because they were at Harvard; though I wouldn't be too smug if I were them since it's really just the continuing/adult ed arm of the school, which is nothing compared to the "real" Harvard in terms of resources, academic vigor, and so forth.

And UMass Boston, despite being an underfunded public school, was the most pleasant (but of course the pay was the lowest as well). And the students were very hardworking and much more appreciative of my input. Boston University is somewhere in between, though the program got slashed after the adjuncts voted to unionize.

LarssonCrew · Joined: 06 Jun 2009 Posts: 1308

The difference is if you get shafted by Harvard you can sue and there is actual rule of law...

HeidiHector · Joined: 10 May 2017 Posts: 36 Location: China

thechangling · Joined: 11 Apr 2013 Posts: 276

My college in Wuhan is a terrible mess because of people in important positions of power who are totally incompetent at their jobs due at least in part to stress, anxiety, workload etc. These people are only in the job because of their relationships I suspect and nothing to do with merit based on capability and performance which seem to be irrelevant here as long as the brown nosing relationships are maintained.

talentedcrayon · Joined: 19 Mar 2013 Posts: 91

Chinese universities have lied to me in the past. My last university told me I would be teaching accounting. When I arrived, they wanted me to teach 3 different subjects, which obviously requires three times the prep work. I ended up negotiating with them that I would teach accounting in the first semester, economics in the second semester, and I would just use a curriculum I paid for online to teach English. But, my contract clearly stated I was an "Accounting Teacher." There were numerous other issues, and the contract covered all of them, but it was all just a "misunderstanding" on my part. It's a scam. A total scam. They play the "misunderstanding" card and won't admit they lied to you.

And it isn't just my last uni, my uni before that also misleads hires. They have two campuses. One out in the middle of nowhere. And that's where most of your classes will be. But, what they told me in the interview was that the teacher's apartments are across the street from the university. True, you live across the street from the main campus, but you need to spend 10hours per week on a bus going out to the middle of no where.

It doesn't even matter if it's in your contract. They will make you go to the other campus in Zhuhai. And at that point your options will be: quit or put up with it for a year.

And if you quit, you might have a difficult time getting a new job in China.

Pass. Pass. Pass.

edit: universities in China have a very difficult time getting new teachers. That's because anyone qualified to work at a university, is also qualified to do better paid work in Shanghai or Beijing. So, rather than increasing pay, or lowering hours, they lie to teachers instead. And sadly, 2/3 universities I've worked for have engaged in this, and I actually think my current university would pull similar BS if they felt the need to. However, my current university was good because they put me in contact with the previous teacher, and told him straight up to give me the good the bad and the ugly. And they've also told me to do the same with other people interested in working here. I still think they could abruptly change things if they needed to though, because my boss has alluded in a meeting that he is able to do that if he wants to. Not sure if that was just him powertripping, or if he would actually do something to mess up my schedule/change major policies (like implementing a curfew) that would impact my private life.

OhBudPowellWhereArtThou · Joined: 02 Jun 2015 Posts: 1168 Location: Since 2003

I have to agree with some of the negative things said about Chinese public universities. There is a tendency on the part of the university not to be terribly forthcoming about subjects taught and number of hours taught. There are a few reasons for this. If one works with a recruiter, the recruiter will be given bad information through the FAO because the FAO isn't told much about the FT's schedule. The FAO is just the FT's link to local government.

Then there's the reality that the school doesn't know how many freshmen there will be come September until September arrives. Really. Those who have attended and taught in western universities don't understand the Chinese' somewhat fluid concept of planning and forthrightness. China is a loooong way from Kansas.

Until one arrives at the university, he may not learn his schedule or the classes to be taught until a day before classes start when he is told by the FT liaison to submit lesson plans for each class for the entire semester. (They call them syllabuses, but they're really a semester's worth of lesson plans).

This is the nature of many public universities. Before you agree to work for a public university, GET IT IN WRITING IN YOUR CONTRACT the number of hours to be worked and the number of subjects to be taught. If writing is part of the contract, agree to no more than one writing class plus another subject. Three classes of non-writing classes is doable, depending upon the amount of paperwork involved, but if one is an inexperienced teacher, one or two classes is enough.

The school may balk at the contract conditions when you arrive, but a contract is a contract, and it must hold up its end of the deal. The FT may have to butt heads with the Powerz That Bee, but it is imperative that he hold his ground.

If you are told that you'll be teaching freshmen, their classes may not even begin until the end of September because they'll be involved in military boot camp.

If your subject department tells you that you have more classes than you contracted for because the school could not recruit enough foreign teachers, the department will probably abbreviate the classes at some point. You should, however, make the FAO aware of the schedule overload. The FAO can put pressure on the department to lighten your load.

Some things just can't be avoided. If the school seems to be your cup of oolong, roll with the punches and do your best. It will pay off in the future should you decide to work more than one contract.

LarssonCrew · Joined: 06 Jun 2009 Posts: 1308

Actually, for most people [I think!] one benefit of the university lifestyle is that you have free time to either study, work more or go traveling.

Since most people I know do some part time work, you'd better hope the university is close to a major city to enable you to work more. I've seen some universities two hours outside of a city, that's not good.

Also, I've had friends who had 16 hours a week and the university loaded it onto two days, 8-10 10:15-12:15 and then 2-4 4:15-6. That was perfect, he worked 16 hours in a public school at 250 an hour, then did some evening tutor work, so he was on about 7 but made probably over 20. With weekends free too!

doogsville · Joined: 17 Nov 2011 Posts: 924 Location: China

This is purely anecdotal, but a teacher I worked with went to Sun Yat Sen universities Zhuhai campus after he left the uni we worked in together. He had a happy two years there and then the foreign affairs officer was replaced and everything went wrong, he said. The next year was a bit of a nightmare for him, poor organisation, demands made out of no where and pretty shabby treatment for all the FT's. Then they told him that they were moving all the English teachers bar one, who is a Russian, who happens to be married to a Chinese teacher at the same university, to the Guangzhou campus. He was told he could either move to Guangzhou or quit. He quit. Then they messed him around with the paperwork needed to go to his next job. Probably best to stay away.